A high-power microwave generator employing a plurality of inexpensive
commercial magnetron tubes cross-coupled by means of a secondary coupling
path between each magnetron output pair, whereby a portion of the output
energy from a first magnetron tube is injected into a second magnetron
tube and a portion of the output energy from the second magnetron tube is
similarly injected into the first magnetron tube. The resulting
cross-injection of microwave energies brings the respective magnetron
tube pair into a phase-lock sufficiently stable to permit coherent
combination of their outputs for many high-power microwave applications,
such as directed energy weapon systems. The magnetron phase-locking
system requires no external components other than the secondary coupling
paths of this invention.